No hablamos mucho espanol: Penguins, beaver dams and burnt boots!

We have arrived at the end of the world 'fin del mundo' at Tierra del Fuego, the ´land of fire.´

Regrettably our ferry trip through fjords and uninhabited islands to Isla Navarino did not quite go to plan due to no ferry being available that week (we are used to changing plans quite frequently along the way now). We arrived at the southernmost city in the world, Ushuaia fresh with entusiasm for the start of Patagonian trekking, camping and (apparently) variable weather.

The first evening in Ushuaia entertained us with our first encounter of the Argentinian-Anglo dispute over the small penguin inhabited Falkland Islands (known over here as 'Islas Malvinas'). To make life easy for us we have been saying that we are both from Ireland (if you mention that you live in the UK at the moment, you are never sure what kind of reaction you will get). Susan accidentally let it slip that she worked and lived in England. Oops. Let's just say that the chap from Buenos Aires suggested that Susan get back on Cameron's recently dispatched frigate and return to the UK. Charming! He then proceeded to sit on his bunk and stare at us ( and the wall) for an hour. Needless to say we were on our guard that night and swiftly left the hostel the next morning with our apparent 'breakfast' (i.e. a cup of instant coffee and a tea bag) and found a much more pleasant hostel, which we would recommend to all travellers, called Yakush Hostel.

Being this close to the Antarctica AND KING PENGUINS, made it a very tough decision not to jump on the next ship heading south, but we restrained ourselves and went on a really scenic 5 hour boat trip down the infamous Beagle Channel past sealion and penguin colonies, past Les Eclaireurs lighthouse and waved as we sailed past Isla Navarino (we met some people who did the trek there a few days before and to say Gordon was jealous is an understatement!) Even though it was a very touristy boat trip, we would recommend it, or a kayak trip down the channel, as the views are very pretty on a good day.

We pushed on the next day to get our moneys worth out of our new tent, which we had only used once so far and found a campsite just out of town. We pitched our tent and headed straight up a steep, disused ski slope just above the campsite towards glaciar Martial. While traversing upwards, having to look at the old chair lift we could just jump on didn't ease our pain, but it was a good workout nevertheless (and we certainly need to work off all those fatty empanadas!) We walked through a pretty forested area in full autumn bloom, which follows a nordic ski run all the way to the foot of the glaciar. We got our first taste of fresh glacial water running down (tasty, fresh water is hard to come by in many places in SA so was a treat.) The next day we stayed put due to bad weather (fortunately the only poor weather we have experienced in Patagonia to date) and bumbled around Ushuaia town WINDOW shopping (no space in rucksacks for real shopping!) and drinking local hot chocolate, which is renowned in the area. We will go into our chocolate speel later on. That evening we wrapped up our stay at the campsite by treating ourselves to a bbq steak 'lomo' (NB:meat before a hike=essential!) and met an Australian/German couple who gave us some tips on the hike we would do the next day.

Day one of the trek brought us to Lago Encantada, a charming and beautiful lake surrounded by very scenic mountains filled with glaciers, rocks and greenery. The highlight of the walk that day had to be shortly after setting off on foot, with a typical Patagonian backdrop of mountains, sun, blue skies and streams to all of a sudden hear a thundering noise. Low and behold about 15 horses came charging along the flatlands of the valley and through the streams while being herded by three or four local gauchos. We have never scrambled to get the cameras out that quickly...your standard Kodak moment! We had the glacial basin all to oursevlves as we tucked our tent in amongst a small forested area on the banks of the emerald lake. While Gordon strolled around the lake taking in the scenery, Susan marched off in search of beavers! Unfortunately their dam was evident (clever little animals), but they were hiding as they may be aware that beaver stew is common amongst locals and clearly did not want to be our dinner. We were certainly protected from the wind, but not the cool altitude and ice chill from the glaciar as we froze that night even when wrapped in double layers of thermals and sleeping bags. The warmest we were that evening was courteousy of Gordon's caveman fire-making skills, which quelled my whinging and dried my wet boots and subsequently melted them partially!

The next morning, we were frozen so cooked our porridge (Gordon now refuses to eat the stuff) and got up and about as soon as possible. En route, we could feel our toes and finger tips again, and set off on day 2 torwards Lago de Caminate. This was a fairly easy day apart from having to find our way through the largest maze of a beaver dam we have ever seen. The first attempt at going through the dam (i.e climbing through a maze of rotten wood, fallen trees, water, marsh etc) failed miserably as it appears that not only do beavers not wish to be found, but they don't appear to like the national park yellow markers so they destroy everything in sight. So we retreated and skirted the perimeter of the dam to eventually find the route out. Some hours later, after a really steep incline, some heights vertigo sufferers wouldn't revel at (and somewhat misinformed by The Lonely Planet Guidebook as to timings) we arrived at the most emerald lake we have seen yet. It was worth the effort. Again we had the camping area in a forested area to ourselves. Another fire to warm up and a slight misjudgement in pasta sauce purchase (West Indian Hot Sauce HOT!) concluded the evening. The next morning, another pot of porridge accompanied by mischievious-looking skies, we set off to cross the 850m pass to the other side of the valley. The first hour was challenging, but luckily the clouds dissipated to reveal clear, blue skies at the crest of the pass. We crossed the pass, took some pictures, froze for a while and pressed on a descend to Ushuaia. We enjoyed the panoramic views of the autumn-clad valley as we traversed along the steep scree slopes and celebrated the hard walk with tea, soup, nuts and chocolate. Ravenous.

We arrived back in Ushuaia after clambering for an hour or so through an obstacle course of storm-flattened massive trees. After a shower, some MEAT and a night to recouperate back at Yakush hostel, this ended our stint in Ushuaia and another 16 hour bus journey would take us to Puerto Natales, the entrance town to Torres Del Paine National Park.